Saturday, October 17, 2009

"StrategosHerodotos, what forces do we have available for the Drujistan expedition?"

"We have 6000 regular cavalry, 3000 barbarian cavalry, 6000 heavy infantry, 2000 light infantry, 3000 barbarian infantry, and 10 elephants, Excellency", came the reply. "We will have to leave some troops to guard the province, but most can be taken with us."

"Good. What are your recommendations as to which troops we should take?"

"We should leave 1000 of the regular cavalry and 2000 of the barbarian horse. That will be enough to maintain order and patrols while the main army advances on Drujistan. The territory we are invading is hilly and mountainous and infantry would serve us better. The elephants may also help as they have only recently arrived from the capital city of Anshan and the invaders have not seen them before."

"That will be fine.", Governor Mondyar replied. "Do we have any information on the enemy's territory?"

"Very little your Excellency. Mostly tales of demons, though none have been seen. Just strange howling noises. There are stories of a lost city named Yanaidar somewhere in the mountains. Our agents believe that the Yezemite cult may be located there. Their assassins have been responsible for the deaths of several important people. There is an old road that leads into the mountains that would probably be the best route to take. One of our scribes did locate an old map that indicates that the road would lead to that city. If the map is correct it will take about a weeks march from here to reach it."

"Then it will be best that we follow that road. As for the demons, we will bring some priests with us. The creatures that attacked our villages were ugly apelike things, but definitely not demons. They need to be punished for their destruction of the water god's temple and eliminating the Yezemites would also be good. Have the army prepared to march seven days from now. The end of the month will also see the end of our enemies."

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The following are some of the 6mm ancients units that I have completed this past year.
Three views of the Argyraspides. Figures by Rapier Miniatures. Unit is 10 deep by 24 wide. The figures have been based so that they may be used for both Field of Glory and Warmaster.

Chalkaspides

Leukaspides

Rapier phalangites with pike in upright position. Used for poor quality phalanx. Formation is 24 wide by 12 deep.

Early Achmaenid Persian infantry (Baccus and Rapier) I used the colors of the Immortals in the Osprey book.

Indian javelinmen. Heroics and Ros. I have some H&R chariots, H&R cavalry, Baccus javelinmen and Baccus elephants to finish.

Indian archers and elephants. Elephants by H&R and Irregular. Archers by Baccus and H&R

Carthagenian citizens and African spearmen by Rapier miniatures. Also being used for hoplites.

Monday, October 12, 2009

The following photos were taken with indoor lighting that I should have adjusted for. The background is actually white so there is a bit of color shift. These are 25/28mm figures that I have painted this year.
Three units of archers filling in as Bossonian archers for Aquilonia.

Friday, October 9, 2009

"How will Governor Mondyar react to the news", was all the aide could think of as he hurried down the hall to the governor's office. Arriving at the door, he gave it a hurried knock."Enter", came the reply."Your excellency, I have dreadful news. Another village has been attacked and this time the Drujistan invaders have suceeded in destroying the village and a sacred temple""This is too much. Twice before our army has driven them off before they could cause much damage. Tell the Strategos that he is to assemble as many troops as possible and prepare them to attack Drujistan by the end of this month!""Yes, your excellency"

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Ray has asked that I put on a game for the club on Halloween day. This will be a follow on from a previous game that I did for the club. The battle will be set in Robert E. Howard's Hyboria and be an expedition by Iranistan into Drujistan in retaliation for previous raids against Iranistan villages.

The previous games' battle field was as follows: a road from the north edge going through the village and heading off on the eastern part of the south edge. A large woods with some ruins in the northeast part of the table. A stream flowing from the north to the south about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way in from the west edge. A tower in the southeast part of the table. A bridge crossing the stream near the mill. A lake/marshy area with some trees north of the mill caused by a dam north of the mill. There were ruins in the middle of the wooded area.

I ran this game twice. Once at a club meeting and once at a friends house. The raiders entered from the north with the objective of burning the village. The local defense force was outnumbered, but a relief force was due to arrive along the south road and aid them. The tower was inhabited by a wizard. The raiders in one battle were all orcs while in the other they were orcs with elf allies. The village defenders were humans and the relief forces were dwarfs in the game with the elves and knights in the other. In one raid the attackers were able to burn half the village while in the other they did not burn any of the buildings.

In the battle with only the orcs they also attacked the ruins and activated an ancient curse. For several turns they were harassed by two groups of skeletons. The skeletons wandered around based on the direction of the arrow on the die that was thrown for their movement and would attack whomever they came in contact with. Four sides of the die were arrows and the other two had "hit". If "hit" was rolled the skeletons crumbled to dust. In the same battle one group of orcs also attempted to move through the marsh and was attacked by giant spiders.

The wizard in the tower aided the villagers. The attackers also had magic users. The rules used 10-sided die for combat, morale, missile fire, and magic. Low rolls were needed for morale and high rolls were needed for missile fire and combat. For magic two dice were rolled and the difference between the numbers rolled on the dice would be the number of hits caused on the target. Doubles would cause that number of hits on the magic user attempting to cast the spell. To avoid death the wizard would have to roll one die and score higher than the number rolled for the double. In one battle the first attack that the wizard attempted resulted in a roll of double 10's! This caused the disappearance of the top of the tower in a mighty blast and a small mushroom cloud.

Initial Roman setup. Ken (Cnaeus)on right side of picture and Gary(Gaius) on left side of picture.

First turn
Roman right flank advances.

Roman cavalry under attack. Greek light horse moved through wood and gained a flank attack.

Action on Ken and Hal's (Herodotos)flank.

Action in center and Roman right.

Although outnumbered and outflanked, the Roman cavalry refused to die.

Ken turning Hal's flank. Ken also spotted an item in the rules that infantry could not charge cavalry. Having eliminated most of Hal's missile troops he would then proceeded to move his cavalry in front of the Greek phalanx in order to prevent it from attacking his infantry.

Fighting continues against Roman right flank cavalry. Infantry could join an ongoing melee, so Gary moved some cohorts into the ongoing fight.

The phalanx was able to advance and force the cavalry back, but Hal didn't have enough troops to hold the flank

Cleaning up. Gary and my daughter.

Ken and Hal

Ray in the background preparing to take a photograph.

Our club fought a game in August. The pictures were taken by me and the following battle report was written by Ray.

Report for Battle of the Temple of Poseidon 87 BC

THE PROTAGONISTS:

GRAECO-MACEDONIAN GENERALS

HERODOTOS of "The Windy Dells" Strategos for Macedon and Commander-in-Chief, He also personally commanded the Allied Army's Right Wing which was all Macedonian. This person at one time was a Macedonian Marine. For most of his later life he was an Engineer. After retirement as an engineer, he became a Flower Merchant in Aigai before being called up to active duty as a Militia General during the Mithradatic War.

BUCEPHALOS of "The Boeotian Butlers" Strategos for Allied Greek City States of Boeotia He was Commander of the all Greek Allied Left Wing which really included a center "hinge unit." This person came from a long line of butlers. Before being called up to active duty as a Militia General he was employed in a supervisory capacity in the Boeotian Countryside by the Theban Postal Service. He was fond of telling Postal Patrons: "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these competent carriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

ROMAN GENERALS

Praetor GAIUS LIVIUS ZOSIMUS, Commander-in-Chief and also had personal charge over the Roman Right Wing (Legio V + infantry auxiliaries and heavy cavalry). A long time resident of Ostia and a Member of The Patrician Class. This person was a long service Civil Servant before becoming a Praetor (Cursus Honorum).

Legatus CNAEUS RUFIUS MACRINUS, Left Wing Commander (Legio IV + infantry auxiliaries and heavy cavalry). Member of the Equestrian Order (Thus Title "Esquire"). He originally came from Tuscany, but currently resides in a Villa in Umbria. This person had a varied career: He started as an agens societas benevolens (insurance agent), later he became a praeceptor musica ( music teacher), and just before the Mithridatic War an advocatus et iuris consulti (advocate/ attorney/barrister/lawyer). The Roman Senate appointed him as a Legatus under Praetor Gaius Livius for the Mithridatic War.

The Battle's Background

This WGS wargame was a hypothetical scenario taking place in Northwestern Greece close to the small City State of Astakos. A combined Army of Macedonians and Boeotian Greek City States tried to stop Roman reinforcements to General Sulla who had just begun a siege of Athens and its Port of Piraeus.

The First Mithridatic War (89–85 BC) was a conflict fought between the Kingdom of Pontus and revolting Greek cities—Athens being the most prominent—led by Mithridates VI of Pontus against the Roman Republic and the Kingdom of Bithynia. The war lasted five years and ended in a Roman victory which forced Mithridates to abandon all his conquests and return to Pontus.

Setting up the Wargame

The Atwater Library did not open until 9:35 AM. Set up of the wargame tables and moving furniture around took over fifteen minutes. Sorting Hal Windell's miniatures into two armies took over forty five minutes.

The Romans chose the side of the battlefield which had a light woods on their right flank, a ridge on their center, another patch of light woods on their left and The Temple of Poseidon (mostly in ruins) on their further left. Both the extreme Roman Left and Right Flanks had open ground.

The Greeks were left with an area of open ground on both of their flanks as well as a large stretch in their center. They had small patches of light woods in both their left center and their right center.

GAME TIME LINE

Game Turn One began at 10:35 AM. This was twenty-five minutes of just movement.

Game Turn Two began at 11:00 AM. This was twenty-two minutes of just movement.

Game Turn Three began at 11:22 AM. Movement took up thirty-three minutes. Combat took up to twenty minutes exactly.

There was a LUNCH BREAK from 12:15PM until exactly 1:00PM.

Game Turn four began at 1:00 PM. Movement took up thirty-five minutes. Combat took up to twenty minutes exactly.

Game Turn Five began at 1:55 PM. Movement took up thirty-five minutes. Combat took up to fifteen minutes exactly.

Game Turn Six began at 2:45 Pm. Movement took up thirty minutes. Combat took up to twenty minutes exactly.

The Game ended at 3:35 PM. Counting unit strengths and casualties took about ten minutes. Clean up took up about fifteen minutes. We were out of the Atwater Library by 4:00 PM--one hour ahead of the maximum time (5PM) allotted for the game.

Game Mechanics

Harold (Hal) C. Windell's own rules, The Ancient World, were created by him over forty-two years ago. As far as I can tell from my memory and existing copies, these rules have gone through four editions. Originally, The Ancient World, was a Simultaneous Move game of sorts with the winner of a die roll (on every game turn) deciding on which flank he would begin while his opponent moved on the opposite flank. This system was modified quite often by an umpire (normally Hal himself) to the more common Move & Counter Move. The Fourth Edition of The Ancient World (02 May 1989) uses a pack or packs of playing cards to determine moves i.e. the Umpire draws a Red Card and Romans move a particular unit, and so on. This was the system used at The Battle of The Temple of Poseidon. As Scenario Umpire, I drew the cards. ( I also did not shuffle them very well.)

Game Description
Ken's e-mail of 08/12/09 (which was sent to all of you) described the Battle of the Temple of Poseidon in a "fair and balanced manner" (like FOX News?); so there is no need for me to say more. The Sixth Turn was the decisive one because over a third of the Allied Right Wing (All Macedonian) disappeared. Four units of Macedonian Heavy Cavalry survived and these would have been able to join the rest of their Right Wing (all Light Infantry) which was "refused" ( bent back). Nevertheless, Ken's destruction of all the Macedonian Light Cavalry, and most of the Macedonian Heavy Cavalry, in effect "turned" that wing. In spite of this, the Allied Army would have been able to retreat without difficulty, especially because the "off board" ILLYRIANS (fresh, organized and tough) would certainly have helped cover the retreat.

The Romans lost 6,200 (124 figures) out of 20,850 (417 figures) soldiers. The combined Greek and Macedonian Army lost 4,800 (96 figures) out of 14,000 (280 figures) soldiers.

Conclusion

The late Elliott Derman (WGS Founder & Director) was fond of saying that, "Wargaming is not a spectator sport." I respectfully disagreed with him then and still do now: There are exceptions to this observation, and the Ancients Miniature Wargame fought on 08 August 2009 is one of them. I very much enjoyed being Scenario Umpire for The Battle at the Temple of Poseidon.

Revised Blog

Instead of posting to different blogs for each period of history, I have decided to combine all blogs into this one. As such it will cover everything from ancients through the future.

The Duchy of Clove-Hamhock

This blog is part of the emperor vs elector campaign.

The Duchy of Clove-Hamhock is located in central Germany. It has had a long if checkered history going back to the Thirty Years War. The duchy survived this period by supporting the side currently in power or with the largest army nearby. It was even known to have been on both sides in the same day as different opposing armies marched through the duchy. The current ruler of the duchy is Herzog Wilhelm Fredrik von Servens II a direct descendant of the original ruler of the duchy Wilhelm Fredrik von Servens I.

Coat of Arms of Clove-Hamhock

The duchy's coat of arms is a smoked ham on a blue field with a clove rampant.

Banner of Iranistan

map of iranistan

Iranistan

Iranistan is located south of the Vilayet Sea and west of Vendhya along the coast of the southern ocean. Reknown for the quality of its fruits and wines, Iranistan also produces medicines, textiles, and precious stones. The capital city of Anshan is located in the fertile valley of the Anshan River. Great walls and mighty fortifications protect the city from any invaders.
Iranistan is a fictional country from Robert E. Howard's Conan series. It is one of several countries in the Kingdoms of Antiquity fictional campaign. http://kingdomsofantiquity.blogspot.com/